Report: Pats agree to terms with Brandon LaFell

Posted by Mike Florio on March 15, 2014, 11:08 PM EDT

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The Panthers recently cut their top wide receiver. The Panthers have now lost their No. 2 and No. 3 receivers to free agency.

Tom Curran of CSN New England reports that the Patriots have agreed to terms with Brandon LaFell. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that it’s a three-year deal. The loss of LaFell and his 627 receiving yards follows the cutting of Steve Smith (745) and the acquisition of Ted Ginn (556) by the Cardinals.

The acquisition of LaFell comes on the same day the Patriots re-signed Julian Edelman. Already on the roster were Danny Amendola, Aaron Dobson, and Kenbrell Thompkins.

The Patriots also are reportedly planning to visit with Kenny Britt on Monday.

While the Patriots may not have a high amount of quality at the position, it looks like they’ve got the quantity thing covered.

Somebody tell the Broncos the AFC Championship is over. They still trying to beat the Patriots but the team that slaughtered them when it counted is sitting back like “What? we already good. We beat you with the team we got. Wake us when you get on our level…silly rabbit. (can’t cuss…sooo)”

what the pats need to do is to trade amendola for even a 6th rounder,save some cap,trade wilfork to a team like dallas or the bears fot their first pick and draft a guy like calvin pryor or ha-ha clinton…imagine that secondary,and with their 29th pick draft a guy like louis nix or the best dt on the board…

cam newton losing all of his outside receivers going into a contract year.
losing 2 (minimum) starting OL isnt going to help either. so far the only addition is a slow safety in roman harper.
not a great day to be a panthers fan im guessing.

Nobody wants to play for Dave Gettleman. He set the tone by the way he treated Steve Smith. After all, if he can treat Smith that way, lesser players have no chance of getting respect.

Players are retiring and fleeing the sinking ship by any means necessary. This guy acts like he’s won multiple Super Bowls, when he’s just a career suit who it took 30 years to get a GM job.

He’s disrespectful and respect fits under the cap every time. He repels instead of attracts players. Who wants to play for him? My theory is that he wants to fire Rivera, but can only do it with regression, and he’s making sure that happens.

So the Panthers really have no WRs to throw right about now and this may set Cam Newton back by a lot as there aren’t really any stellar studs out there and chemistry and so on is going take the following season to really get.

This is like Donovan McNabb 2.0 except Chad Lewis is Steve Smith, yes they play different positions but the point trying to make is that should a prime example on how to not put weapons around your star QB especially as everybody is gone and your current roster as of now Pinkstons & Thrashes. Time is the only thing that can tell if this is good or not but right now not looking good.

Love it! Welcome to a real championship contender Brandon! You need to step your game up a bit now, with Brady as your QB instead of athletic, but sometimes inaccurate Cam. I still want to see Britt come in on a veterans minimum type deal, but the WR position is now filling out quite nicely! Go pats.

who cares about their division? I’m pretty sure they played every division in the NFL the last 13 years and what have they done to everyone of your teams? Dominated! hell they can win 11 games with Matt Cassel as their quarterback.

Hate on haters! Boston loves it! there’s nothing you can say or do to erase the statistics that will go down as the greatest era in football history! you’ll be dead and their decade and a half of dominance will live on in football infamy!

Wow. This has been one of the worst offseasons I’ve seen in the nfl in a long time. Lose key players on an already weak oline, have all your money tied up in your backfield, and lose your 1, 2, and 3, wr on an already weak offensive team. The big addition. The over the hill roman harper. Not sure how they can turn this offseason around but I just saw a pic of gettlemen sitting next to cam and both had towels draped over their heads. Ice up and iced out. #methheads

What’s that smell coming from the direction of New England? Oh, yeah…desperation.

I guess when you yak up chance after chance at a championship for a decade during which you were supposed to be “dynasty,” and during which all the other teams from your city ARE actually WINNING championship, you tend to get a bit antsy.

Look at the bright side, Pat fans: Brady’s era ends soon, and you’ll just fade to obscurity and no one will notice you any more. That’ll be better for everyone, trust me…

Two things, Lafell played in a run heavy system in Carolina and Newton (especially as a rookie) isn’t nearly as polished a passer as Brady is. Lafell has some talent and Brady has made a lot of receivers look really good in his career. If nothing else his size will help the Patriots in the red zone because when Gronk is out the red zone offense of the Patriots goes into the tank.

I’ll be interested to see how the contract is structured. The Patriots brought in a ton of receivers last year (Hawkins, Jenkins, Jones) and cut them all in camp. From the looks of it Lafell is in the Patriots’ plans for sure in the 2014 season.

And it begins! The time of year when the Pats sign about 4 FAs to bring 10 Receivers to camp. The Patriot passing system is not easy to grasp, and most signed FAs don’t make the cut. I would not be suprised to see Britt and another WR sign with them in the next week or two.

As always, Mike Brown is asleep during free agency. It will be up to Andy Dalton to carry the team on his shoulders. He’s more than up to it. If he had competent coaches and teammates he would already have three rings. It just makes me so angry!

Do they have any sort of plan in Carolina? Newton takes step forward this season, and they seem to be intent on making him take a step back.

I’m not saying any of these guys are world beaters. Smith wasn’t worth his cap number (although you could make an argument he was, for that franchise), and Ginn/LaFell as just guys, nothing special.

However, when you have a young QB who just started to find his game at the NFL level, and is looking to take the next step to be among the leagues elite, you don’t take away every weapon he is comfortable with. Even if they could replace them with on par talent (they probably can’t at this point), they won’t have them chemistry

Yep, Pats are getting desperate and very predictable. But that’s what happens when you let Wes Welker go…I’m sure though LaFell will do well with Brady though. Heck if the Pats keep this up, maybe just maybe another division team will finally catch up.

Signing Revis and Browner is just a reaction to losing to Denver so badly in AFC Champ game last year…so that’s BB’s game plan? Reacting to what Denver does? Really, Bill? Really?

When they react to what the Fins, Bills, and Jets do, then we’ll know the Pats are down for the count.

Carolina Panthers front office just announced tryouts for WR will be open to the public at the practice facility. No experience is considered a plus. Everyone who attends gets an autographed Steve Smith jersey and free donuts.

The rest of the AFC can’t be happy about this. The Patriots are loading up on both sides of the ball. The last time they were this aggressive in free agency was 2007 when they went undefeated in the regular season. In other words, Denver is no longer the only big dog to fear in the AFC.

I wonder how well he will transition. There’s a big difference between what cam wants his receivers to do and what Tom demands his receivers do. There’s been just a couple of big name receivers that just couldn’t figure it out, I hope he does.

I just need the yearly “Brady has no weapons” crap this season if he struggles. Apparently the only way for Brady to have “weapons” is if he has Dez Bryant, Calvin Johnson, Josh Gordon and AJ Green on the team. Even then, if he struggled I am sure the receivers would be blamed.

When all is said and done , Bill might go down as one of the greatest coaches ever but will have wasted probably the greatest quarterback of all time’s prime years by surrounding him with inferior offensive talent.

miguelromerorhpat says:
Mar 15, 2014 11:23 PM
what the pats need to do is to trade amendola for even a 6th rounder,save some cap,trade wilfork to a team like dallas or the bears fot their first pick and draft a guy like calvin pryor or ha-ha clinton…imagine that secondary,and with their 29th pick draft a guy like louis nix or the best dt on the board…

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As brilliant as Belichick is often accredited as being, I don’t think he’s sly enough to find a trade partner willing to take Amendola or Wilfork’s contracts. Both are extremely high dollar figures for their positions, not to mention Amendola’s injury history and Wilfork recovering from a very difficult injury to come back from at his age, weight and position.

LaFell is another good signing made by the Patriots this year. I am not sure why they signed him to a three year deal, but maybe he already had offers on the table with 3+ years on it. I think PFT is wrong about the quantity over quality. Between a healthy Amendola, a returning Edelman, Dobson and Thompkins gaining experience and LaFell(Who is a damn good receiver) Brady will have no problem moving down the field at ease.
With Brady only having a few more years left in him, If the Patriots want to get another trophy to New England, they might want throw all their chips in now, because Miami and Buffalo are starting to really get close to ending their rebuilding process.

Lafell has better size as good speed and same production as sanders in a run heavy offense. Brady has made championship games with gaffney Caldwell givens patten etc…. Sick of hearing elwYs a genious. He’s signing obvious free agents and closing with ridiculous contracts. It’s not he’s finding sleeper free agents. Lafell is exactly what pats needed a tough rec w size . He’s just a piece if puzzle. Btw has the genious won anything yet??????

So LaFell is the next guy BB turns into a star. Talib was alright before he came to the Pats and then he become the hottest thing on the market. Can’t imagine what Revis will do now, with a superior coaching staff. Browner is the next Rodney Harrison. You know everyone is jealous of the Pat’s dominance these past 13 years when a simple signing like this causes so many trolls to come out. Pretty sure the Pats will be undefeated this year.

LaFell came out of LSU with a rep for bad hands. That’s why we got him in the third round. Turned out that the rep was accurate. He did show progress in years 2-3, but last year he was quite inconsistent. He never did develop into the reliable #2 we needed him to be, despite multiple chances. Ted Ginn passed LaFell late last year. Perhaps teaming with a QB we KNOW will be in the Hall of Fame (Brady) will help him more than being with a QB who might be in the Hall of Hame if things work out (Newton). He’s a good team guy and will fit in with the Pats locker room well.